Photo courtesy of Boston.com
Tom Brady and Coach Bill Belichick embrace after defeating the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX.
By Max Peebles
It has taken me a while to fully digest what happened in the Boston sports world two weeks ago.
After 20 seasons and six Super Bowl victories, Tom Brady has left the New England Patriots. That’s right. The Brady-Belichick era has ended. I can’t believe it.
At 42 years-old, Brady is in the twilight of his career. Along with his contract expiring this offseason, Brady’s departure does not come as a total surprise, however, I think a lot of Pats fans and certainly myself, thought he would still be playing in New England this year. No one will know for a while what exactly happened between him and Belichick — if anything at all — and what led Brady to signing with Tampa Bay of all teams. But at the end of the day, Brady is gone and New England fans are left in mourning. Like Joe Montana playing for the Chiefs after the 49ers, or Michael Jordan joining the Wizards after the Bulls, Brady is doing the same. When people look back on his career years from now, Tom will always be a Patriot.
While I am sad his time in New England is over, all I can do is sit back and smile at the memories us Pats fans have from the last 20 seasons.
I remember receiving my first Brady jersey on the night the Patriots beat Carolina to win their second Super Bowl title. I remember the countless games against Peyton Manning (many of them being victories). I remember the sweet feeling of redemption when Brady led the team back to beat Seattle in the Super Bowl, after the two heartbreaking Super Bowl losses to the New York Giants. And I remember the night of February 5, 2017, when all hope seemed lost, and the team was down 28-3 to Atlanta — the night of the greatest comeback.
The events that transpired that night will always be a testament to Brady’s fighting spirit — that no matter the odds or what someone may say about you, if you have the belief in yourself and the tenacity to execute when it matters most, then you will be victorious. This is what inspired me as a young boy.
Growing up, I was (and still am) lucky enough to call my parents my role models. But I feel like every kid needs other role models in addition to their own parents — especially if they are playing sports. For me, I found this role model in Tom Brady. Learning about how Brady was overlooked in high school, overlooked in college, and picked 199 in the sixth round of the NFL Draft, helped give me the inspiration and motivation to push forward in my baseball career growing up. While my baseball days are over, Brady continues to be a source of inspiration for me. His humility, his resiliency, and his ability to put the TEAM first, are qualities I try to emulate in my own life.
It is hard to imagine right now another quarterback for the Patriots. Like other people my age, Brady has been the Pats’ quarterback for basically my whole life. There will definitely be an adjustment.
A lasting image I will always have of Brady in New England was during that night against Atlanta in the Super Bowl. With the team down 28-3, with just over 20 minutes left to play, Brady was going up and down the sideline saying, “Let’s go now! Let’s start showing some fight!” and “We gotta play harder! Harder, tougher, everything! Everything we’ve got!” A few touchdowns later and the Patriots had won their fifth title. Two years later, they won their sixth.
This is the Tom Brady I will always remember. A warrior on the football field and forever the “comeback kid.”
Peebles is a senior English major with a minor in Journalism
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